God of War Sons of Sparta 'is not God of War' says series creator — 'I don't like it, I don't recommend it'
The creator filmed a scathing review after playing the first hours of the game
· TechRadarNews By Demi Williams published 17 February 2026
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- God of War franchise creator David Jaffe has heavily criticized God of War Sons of Sparta
- Jaffe played the first hour of the game after it shadow dropped and doesn't like it, and doesn't recommend it to fans
- He adds that he initially liked the 2.5D sidescrolling idea but has slammed the narrative concept
God of War franchise creator David Jaffe has bashed God of War Sons of Sparta, calling the spin-off "crap", "dumb", and "stupid", and doesn't recommend it to fans of the series.
Sony announced and shadow dropped Gods of War Sons of Sparta, a 2D sidescrolling spin-off featuring Kratos as a young boy, in last week's State of Play presentation.
After playing an hour of the game, Jaffe put out a YouTube video to express his thoughts, criticizing the narrative concept of the game, even though he was initially "super into" the side-scrolling concept.
"This is the kind of game I've always wanted in terms of 2.5D God of War, super into it - but this, to me, is not what I was talking about," Jaffe said. "I bought this game, it's a $30 game, I don't like it, I don't recommend it."
Jaffe went on to criticize the Sony executive who greenlit the project.
"I wanted to make a video more about what are they thinking, like what the f*** were they thinking? It's not a bad game by any means, it's fine, it controls decently... but to me the more fascinating part of this is, why is this in existence? I don't understand."
He then discussed how he stopped playing after one hour because the characters kept "stopping over and over [to] talk and talk," adding, "this is not God of War."
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